Assignment #2 (Middle English)

Approximately when was Middle English spoken?

It was was spoken between the Norman invasion of 1066 and about 1470.

2. What were the major factors which led to the development and the spread of Middle English?

The major factor was the Norman invation and the influence of the French language in the English language.

3. Match the following Old English words with their Anglo-Norman equivalent:

A. Pig=pork

B. Cow= beef

C. Wood= forest

D. Sheep= mutton

E. House= mansion

F. Worthy= honourable

G. Bold = courageous

4. Compare & contrast the structure of nouns, pronouns and verbs, between Middle English & Modern English.

Middle English retains only two separate noun-ending patterns









whereas pronouns










and verbs













5. How is pronunciation different between Middle English and Modern English?


In middle English all the letters and vowels were pronounced because they pronunced all the words whereas in modern english some vowels aren't pronounced.


6. What is the Chancery Standard, and how did it come into effect?

It Was a written form of English used by government bureaucracy and for other official purposes from the late 14th century.


7. Who wrote the Canterbury Tales?


it was written by Geoffrey Chaucer



8. Describe the medieval pilgrims who journeyed from Canterbury to London.

there are characters from all classes, upper and lower, represented,etc. Religious characters, such as a prioress, monk and a pardoner, travel alongside a shipman, miller, carpenter, reeve, squire, yeoman and a knight, and so on.


9. Why did the pilgrims take this journey?

well, Because they have to pay their respect to the tomb of saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury cathedral.


10. It is thought that some of the stories in The Canterbury Tales originated in Italy. What was the name of the Italian book and who wrote it?

It's name is the decameron and the author was Giovanni Boccaccio.


11. The Canterbury Tales is considered an extremely important book, both in terms of English Literature & in the history of English writing. In your opinion, why is this book so important?

the importance of this book is because it's been one of the first book written in Middle English. therefore, it represents the real medieval life of that time.

12. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is:

a. A collection of German folk tales, similar to Grimm's Fairy Tales.

b. A collection of Japanese ghost stories, similar to Kwaidan.

c. A detailed explanation of the proper etiquette & behaviour for all knights in Medieval Europe.

d. A medieval romance poem, with Arthurian themes.

e. None of the above.

f. All of the above.


definitely, it's letter d because is a poem and besides Sir Gawain belongs to the Arthur's round table wich denotes the theme


13. Who is Sir Gawain?

He is a knight. He is a member of the King Arthur's Round Table.

14. What is the challenge that The Green Knight proposes to the Knights of the Round Table?

The Green Knight offers an axe to any of them who is willing to cut his head off. On condition that if the challenger will take a return blow in a year and a day.

15. What is the similarity between Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Irish tale of Cúchulainn?

The similarity between the tales is that Cuchulainn's antagonist feints three blows with the axe before letting his target depart without injury

16. What is the importance of the pentagram/pentangle in the poem?


The pentagram/pentangle is Gawain's shield wich is seen by many critics as significance of Gawain's perfection and power over evil.


17. How are numbers used to symbolize events in the poem?

The numbers are used to add symmetry and meaning to the poem.


18. What is the significance of Sir Gawain's neck wound?

it was a price wich sir Gawain had to pay for his failure. and the wound was precisely there, because it used to believe that that part of the body was connected to the spiritual and human thinking.


19. Which actor played The Green Knight in the film adaptation, Sword of the Valiant?

It was Sean Connery.

20. In many ways this poem is, in the modern sense, a soap opera. Compare Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with a modern Chilean teleseries.

In one way or another loyalty has been presented in all of the soapoperas that have been broacasted on TV.

Assignment #1 (Beowulf/Old English)

1. When was Old English spoken?

Old English was spoken between the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century.


2. Name 4 language groups which influenced the development of Old English.


- North Germanic. the germanic origins was the most important because it influenced with vocabulary, grammar and sentence structure.

- Latin influenc,It was a lingua franca at that time, besides the christiany influence the latin into the english language.

- Norse Influence. People say this is the second major influence due to the viking invations wich introduced the Scandinavian words.

- Celtic Influence. No less important, they say it could have influenced in the old english syntax.




3. In the Phonology section, name 5 phonetical differences between Old English & Modern English.

1.[dʒ] is an allophone of /j/ occurring after /n/ and when geminated

* For example, senġan "to singe" is [sendʒɑn] < /senjɑn/ < *sangjan

2.# [ŋ] is an allophone of /n/ occurring before /k/ and /ɡ/

* For example, hring "ring" is [hriŋɡ]; [ŋ] did not occur alone word-finally in Old English as it does in Modern English.



3.v, ð, z] are allophones of /f, θ, s/ respectively, occurring between vowels or voiced consonants.

* For example, stafas "letters" is [stɑvɑs]

4.The sequences /hw hl hn hr/ were realized as [ʍ l̥ n̥ r̥].

5. ɣ] is an allophone of /ɡ/ occurring after a vowel or liquid. Historically, [ɣ] is older, and originally appeared in word-initial position

For example, dagas "days" is [dɑɣɑs] and burgum "castles (dative)" is [burɣum]




4. Are there any similarites between Old English and Modern English? Name them.

yes,they can be Vowels, dipthongs and monophtongs




5. In the Orthography section, enlarge the picture of the runic alphabet. How many letters (runes) are there in this alphabet?

In all there are 34 runes.


6. Which epic poem was originally written in Old English?

one example could be beowulf, an anonymous epic poem.



7. In the See Also section, click on: Beowulf. Appoximately when was Beowulf written?

It is suppose to be written between the 8th to the early 11th century.


8. Even though Beowulf was written in England, the story takes place in which countries?

the story takes place in dinamark wich we can see where the kingdom is located and also the origin of beowulf wich is sweeden.


9. In the poem, which 3 antagonists does Beowulf battle or fight against?


the first one could be the battle between beowulf against Grendel.

the second could be where grendel's mother killed beowulf's warriors.

the third one is when beowulf fighted against his own son "the dragon"


10. What happens to Beowulf at the end of the story?

Beowulf had a serious wound because of the fight against the dragon. In the end he died and he was buried in a ship full of tresures by the sea.


11. Who was the author of Beowulf?

Beowulf´s authorship is unknown.


12. What were the titles and the dates of the two film versions of Beowulf?

1. Tittle Beowulf¨ realased on April 1sth of 1999.

2. Tittle Beowulf¨ realased on November 16th of 2007.